


5 Times Jeremy Asked Michael for Girl Advice

by richietozlr



Category: Be More Chill, Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Multi, boyf riends if you squint?, i mean you can interpret it as you will but, michael and brooke are mlm wlw solidarity, more michael centric, this is about michael and jeremys friendship and bond, this isnt abt romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-16
Updated: 2018-11-16
Packaged: 2019-08-24 06:57:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16635086
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/richietozlr/pseuds/richietozlr
Summary: The five times Jeremy Heere asked Michael Mell for advice over Christine, and the one time he realized that Michael was the last person he should be asking.





	5 Times Jeremy Asked Michael for Girl Advice

1.  
Michael Mell loved Jeremy Heere. That was a given. It was equivalent to breathing air, needing water, and sleeping. It was natural, and there’s nothing abnormal about it. Michael loved everything about Jeremy. He was funny, kind, not necessarily the smartest but that was okay, he was true to himself, and he also loved Michael. They were best friends, and even if they didn’t have the childhood best friend troupe, that was enough.  
  
But as much as Michael loved Jeremy, Jeremy was also kind of a dumbass.  
  
“Michael, what am I supposed to do?”  
  
Michael blinked. He hadn’t been paying attention to the situation at hand. He was too caught up in their co-op mission to care about whatever Jeremy was complaining about. “Uh,” he eloquently started. He considered briefly pretending that he was paying attention, but then decided it wasn’t worth it. “What?”  
  
“Were you not listening?”  
  
“No.”  
  
“Great! Thanks!” Jeremy grumbled when he lost a life, controller vibrating angrily in his hands. “I was talking about Christine.”  
  
_When aren’t you talking about Christine,_ Michael thought to himself. But he was a good friend, so he kept that in his head. “And?”  
  
“ _And_ I don’t know what to do because she seems to be mad at me for something, but I don’t know what!” Jeremy’s avatar lost another life and he shouted in response.  
  
“Um,” Michael started again, “Ask her?” He practically felt Jeremy’s incredulous stare, as if Michael had just suggested Jeremy should learn how to fly. “Or don’t? Dude, I don’t know. She’s your girlfriend, not mine.” And thank God for that. Michael couldn’t imagine dating somebody as high maintenance as Christine; he liked being the high maintenance, dramatic one. He also couldn’t imagine dating Christine even if he wanted to, but that’s neither here nor there.  
  
Jeremy rested his chin against his palms in disappointment. “Thanks a lot for the stellar advice! I thought you were great at this kind of stuff! You’ve dated before, and people like you.” _God you’re a fucking idiot_ \- but before Michael could respond, his controller vibrated loudly. “Fuck.” The screen flashes a GAME OVER. He wiped his sweaty palms against his sweatpants and reached for the controller to go back to the player lobby, but Jeremy was still looking expectantly at him.  
  
“What?”  
  
“I’m having a crisis!”  
  
“Jesus dude, just because you’re too prideful to ask Christine what’s wrong doesn’t mean you’re having a crisis, it means that you’re just stubborn. This could all easily be solved if you fucking talked to her instead of sitting here whining about it.”  
  
That at least seemed to sink into Jeremy’s head. After a minute of silence he watched as Jeremy reached over to his bag and pulled out his phone. Jeremy’s eyebrows were knit together as he typed out probably a cheesy text that most likely went something like ‘hi christine just a reminder i love you and i would kill ten men in your honor and are you ok did i do something wrong ignore this if you want to ok goodnight’.  
  
Jeremy hit send then looked up at Michael.  
  
“Can we please get back to us time now?” Michael impatiently tapped his controller.  
  
“Yeah, yeah.”

  


2.  
“What do girls like?” Jeremy asked one day next to Michael’s P.E. locker. Michael choked on his Gatorade. Jeremy didn’t seem to notice; “Like, I want to get Christine something cute for our two month anniversary, but I don’t know what to get her!” Honestly, Michael felt like a saint for putting up with this for two fucking months.  
  
“What do girls like,” Michael repeated after wiping red Gatorade off his textbooks, “Why aren’t you asking a girl about this? Like, I don’t know, Brooke or Jenna or literally anybody else?”  
  
“Well they might ruin the surprise! Plus you’re, like, my best friend. Of course I’m going to come to you first!” Michael would have thought that was sweet if the circumstances were a tad different. But instead he’s avoiding a damage-of-the-textbook fee and his best friend is asking for advice on _girls._ For fucks sake.  
  
“I don’t know Jeremy.” He sighed and slammed the locker shut. On his way to the gym Rich gave the two a crisp high-five and the classic Goranski wink. Jeremy smiled at their friend, but still wasn’t dropping the subject.  
  
“Come on dude! Just spitball something to me here!”  
  
Michael groaned, pulling away to head towards the gym as well. “Flowers?” He assumed Jeremy would follow. (He did.)  
  
“Um… Chocolates?” Michael didn’t watch rom-coms, but he was giving suggestions purely based on the few he had happened to have seen in hopes to satisfy Jeremy’s incessant pestering. “Candles. Stuffed animals? If you really want I guess lingerie--” Jeremy choked “-- or not, whatever. I’m sure whatever you give her she’d like. Christine is good like that.”  
  
Jeremy seemed to let it all seep in, violently nodding along with Michael’s very generic, very boring list. “Gee, I’m a little worried that you might take her away from me, haha.”  
  
If Michael could, he would laugh until he cried at that. “Right, well, that’s the least of your concerns bud.” _There’s no way that Jeremy thinks that’s a real actual issue,_ Michael thought to himself. His eyes lingered on the men’s volleyball team. They were only practicing right now, but damn if Michael didn’t like dudes in short-shorts. But the second Jeremy opened his mouth to talk about Christine, he got the mental image of _Christine_ in short-shorts and ruined it for himself.  
  
“What if I just take her to dinner? And then we can see a drive-in movie!” If Jeremy could pull that out of nowhere, clearly he didn’t need Michael’s help. So Michael said that.  
“You’re such a grump. This is why you’re single, man. No girl is going to want to date you with that kind of attitude.”  
  
Michael would only be so lucky.

  


3.  
Around month three is when Jeremy gets the brilliant idea for a double date. Not out of the kindness of his heart or wanting to hang out with his girlfriend and his best friend, but because he wanted Michael’s opinion of how into-him Christine seemed to be. Again, because Michael is a saint and maybe also an idiot himself. But he told himself it’s for the free food and nothing else.  
  
What he didn’t expect was Jeremy appointing Brooke as Michael’s ‘date’. So when the four of them show up, Jeremy was proudly standing there as if he was creating a match made in heaven. Brooke and Michael shared a high-five, which only added to Jeremy’s smug look. In actuality, it was just that Brooke was Michael’s favorite female friend. Nothing more, nothing less. Then Christine enveloped both of them into the tightest hug and Michael swore he felt his bones crack.  
  
“I’m really glad you guys are here on our… I guess, double date?” She looked quizzically at Brooke, who gave her a shrug. Michael did as well. “Well, partial bro-date I guess.”  
  
“Nah, Brooke is my hot girlfriend for the night.” Brooke laughed and slung her arms around Michael’s.  
  
“Micah’s my hot boyfriend for the night too!” They grinned, Christine laughed, and Jeremy seemed confused but grateful that things were turning out alright.  
  
When it came time to sit down and order Brooke and Christine were happily chatting away. Jeremy watched Christine with the ‘God-I-Love-You’ look. Which was kind of gross, but whatever. Michael was a good friend so he’d put up with it.  
  
The night went relatively fine. Brooke always had been a good friend to Michael so he didn’t mind this pseudo-date. She said funny things that made Michael genuinely laugh, and in return he’d show her deep fried memes that she would cackle over until Christine shushed them. Jeremy’s smug smiles had stopped halfway through the ‘date’. Michael hadn’t noticed, to involved with spending time with Brooke to have paid any attention to Jeremy. Hey, if they were on a double date then Jeremy should have plenty of time with Christine too.  
  
But when Jeremy pulled Michael into the bathroom with him, apparently not.  
  
“Dude, are you and Brooke like… _A thing?” What the fuck?_  
  
“What the fuck?”  
  
“It’s just! You guys get along super well. Like, strangely well. And you were supposed to help me with Christine! Not get all heart-eyes over _Brooke Lohst.”_  
  
There was no way this wasn’t some kind of weird joke. Did Jeremy genuinely, sincerely believe that Michael harbored romantic feelings for Brooke? Fucking Hell. _Fucking_ Hell. Michael rolled his eyes.  
  
“Absolutely totally. I’m so in love with Brooke.”  
  
“Dude, don’t be a dick.”  
  
“You’re the dick, I’m allowed to enjoy myself. And no, I’m not in love with Brooke. Why, are you jealous?” Michael pressed his hand against Jeremy’s chest and pushed him backwards. If either of them realized Jeremy had the slightest blush they never would talk about it.  
  
They stared at each other for a moment. It wasn’t until somebody else came into the bathroom did the trance break and they both shuffled back to the table. Brooke wiggled her eyebrows. “Find any good men, Micah? Replacing me already?”  
  
“Not yet Brookie, but I’ll let you know if somebody catches my fancy.” Jeremy gave them a look. Michael put an arm around Brooke for good measure. Christine laughed.  
  
(And after, Michael took Jeremy home and neither of them said anything about the bathroom incident. Jeremy definitely didn’t seem lost in thought for the whole night, Michael absolutely did not care, and neither would admit to the weird, tentative feelings of jealousy.)

  


4.  
Month four was painless and fast. Midterms kicked their asses, Jeremy didn’t whine about Christine, and Michael finally beat the Elite Four in Pokemon. It was alright, and Michael is happy.  
  
Month five the fights started happening. Not between Michael and Jeremy, of course not, but rather between Christine and Jeremy. So Jeremy gets sad. And when Jeremy gets sad, he doesn’t make the best ideas.  
  
So they get high on the roof of Jeremy’s house. They’re both bundled up in hoodies, passing a quickly dissipating joint between each other. They’re huddled close enough together where they’re practically breathing in each other’s air, but if either of them minded they wouldn’t say anything. Michael liked these moments, because when Jeremy was high he wouldn’t have to deal with the noise and anxiety and voices and all the hard things in the world. Jeremy seemed to be freer, happier, and he always smiled a lot more. Sure, he also swayed and looked sleepy constantly, but he seemed happy.  
  
“I think Christine wants to break up with me,” Jeremy simply stated. He scraped a roof panel off, and the boys watched it clatter to the ground below.  
  
“That sucks.”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
There was a beat of silence while Michael took another hit.  
  
“Will you be okay?” _Don’t get sad._  
  
When Jeremy looked at him he expected watery eyes and a quivering lip, but that wasn’t there. He looked sad, yeah, but there was an acceptance there that Michael knew all too well.  
  
Michael flicked the dying blunt aside and pressed his hand into Jeremy’s shoulder. Jeremy leaned into him, head on his best friend’s shoulder. _He’ll be okay as long as he has a shoulder to cry on,_ Michael thought to himself. He closed his eyes and pressed his nose into Jeremy’s hair.  
  
“I think I always knew it’d be like this. I’m not that surprised.” Jeremy finally said, and Michael shakily exhaled. Shakily, because no that wasn’t it. Jeremy didn’t even realize how lovely he was and Michael wished that when something bad happened he wouldn’t just accept it because he assumed the worst. He would almost like it better if Jeremy did get upset. It was much better than blaming himself for everything. Michael hated that.  
  
Michael was Jeremy’s best friend. That would always be true, no matter what. Even if sometimes Jeremy was a brat and Michael was a dick, they were best friends. Not two halves of a whole, but more like two complimentary colors that came together to form something even greater. That was their friendship, and Michael loved Jeremy. And Jeremy loved Michael. And there was nothing wrong with that.  
  
Jeremy exhaled. “I’ll be okay. It was good while it lasted, yeah? My therapist told me to try and see things optimistically rather than pessimistically. I should think of the good times we had, not the bad times.” _I’m so proud of you._  
  
“Thank you, haha.”  
  
“Did I say it out loud?” Michael wheezed, laughing as he pulled his face out of Jeremy’s hair.  
  
“A little bit, yeah.” Jeremy smiled, and there may have been sadness in it but they both knew it wouldn’t last forever. It’d taken a long time to get where they were, but both of them knew that they’d be happy one day. And that’s what mattered in the end.  
  
Jeremy pulled at his hoodie sleeves, crawling back up the roof to dip inside his room once more. Michael joined him and shut the window behind himself.  
  
(Michael absolutely didn’t reach for him and hold him tightly. Jeremy didn’t wrap his arms around Michael’s waist gratefully. Michael didn’t give his best friend tender back rubs until he felt better. Jeremy didn’t say _“Thank you for everything. You’re my best friend and I love you so much.”_ )

  


5.

 **Brooke:** micah do you wanna go shopping with me n rich  
**Brooke:** target is selling stuff for pride!!!  
**Michael:** yea sure. Tomorrow, right?  
**Brooke:** yessir! I’ll see you then.

  


It’s been two months since Jeremy and Christine broke up. Things are a lot better now, though. Christine sat with them at lunch but it wasn’t weird. Her friendship was stronger with Jeremy, and although they shared moments of mutual sadness, more often than not they were a power combo.  
  
“Do you want to come with us to watch _Venom_ tomorrow?” Jeremy shoved his face in front of Michael’s phone. Michael blinked, set his phone down, and met Jeremy’s smile. His heart softened. Jeremy stepped back to gesture to himself and Christine. Christine perked up and smiled her radiant, sunny smile. Michael’s heart softened even more.  
  
“I would, but I’m going out with Brooke tomorrow.” Jeremy’s eyebrows shot up.  
  
“Seriously? How do you do that?” Jeremy whined, sticking his hands into the pockets of his sweatshirt. Do what? Have friends?  
  
“Uhh… She asked and I said… Yes?” Michael laughed uncomfortably. Jeremy just frowned even further and shoved a finger into Michael’s chest.  
  
“It’s because you’re _attractive_ and _trilingual._ Everybody falls for that, but I know the truth Mr. Rage Gamer.”  
  
“You think I’m attractive?” Michael grinned cheekily. He would choose to think about the other parts of that at a later time. But for now, Jeremy would shove him away and call him mean names.  
  
Later when he was leaving his room to hang out with Brooke and Rich, Jeremy sent him a million winky faces and wished him luck. In return he sent him the OK hand meme, keeping their snap streak of 305 alive and kicking.  
  
His phone went off a few more times when he drove to the designated meet-up spot, and when he met up with Rich and Brooke he promptly sent Jeremy a snap of the three of them. Jeremy had replied with “classic Rich crashing dates, lol”. And Michael wasn’t sure what he meant, but he left it for later.  
  
(They had a fun time together. Brooke bought a Love Wins shirt, Rich got a bisexual pride flag then proceeded to steal a pride patch for Michael. Michael almost cried and may or may not have held Rich and called him the love of his life.)

  


+1  
Michael, Rich, and Brooke all decked out their new pride stuff immediately. Michael had ripped off an old patch (lovingly and carefully) off the sleeve of his iconic hoodie and replaced it with the rainbow flag as soon as he had gotten home. His moms gave him a thumbs-up and then they all made _puto_ cakes together.  
  
When Michael came to school the next day donning his new patch Brooke and Rich ooh’d and aww’d. He dramatically modeled for them, then handed them both a _puto._ It wasn’t long before Jeremy plopped down next to them all, complaining about his bedhead. Michael of course made it worse by ruffling it further, which Jeremy whined about.  
  
Then he stopped suddenly, and stared at Michael’s arm.  
  
“New patch?” Michael looked over to where Jeremy was staring and straightened up.  
  
“Oh, yeah. Rich, Brooke, and I went yesterday to pick up some pride stuff. That’s why I was out with them and why I couldn’t see _Venom._ Although, I do have to say, I do regret not getting to see Tom Hardy all sweaty and hot--”  
  
“Wait. You weren’t on a date yesterday?” Jeremy’s eyes were wide with confusion and realization.  
  
“Uhh, no? With Rich and Brooke? Not really my types. I especially don’t think I could date a lesbian.”  
  
Brooke chirped in at this point with a “I’m the lesbian by the way. Not Rich. Just so you knew.” And Rich nodded seriously. Michael grinned.  
  
“You’re a lesbian?”  
  
“Yeah, last time I checked.”  
  
“I thought you were-- OH MY GOD.” Jeremy sat up so fast that he banged his elbows on the table. “MICHAEL. YOU’RE GAY!”  
  
Michael sipped at his Pepsi, “Mmyup, thank you.”  
  
“You weren’t dating Brooke you’re just-- just friends. And you stare at the volleyball guys--” Michael coughed loudly, “--and that’s why you didn’t give good advice about Christine and. Oh my GOD I’m such a bad friend. How did I not notice?!”  
  
Rich laughed so sharply and hard that he might’ve pulled a muscle. Jeremy flustered and stuttered out a billion apologies for assuming Michael was straight, and Michael just continued to watch until there was no more Pepsi to sip.  
  
(And if later that night Jeremy mumbled into Michael’s shoulder that he was so proud of who Michael was and who he grew into, Michael definitely didn’t tear up and lift Jeremy into the biggest bear hug.)


End file.
